A shadowy collective intertwining Gnostic teachings with capitalist ventures under the guise of a spiritual elite.
The Circle of Friends emerged in the 1970s as a cult operating primarily out of Morristown, New Jersey, and Washington D.C. The organization was nominally headed by George G. Jurscek, a Hungarian immigrant who became a U.S. citizen around 1953. According to former members’ testimonies, Jurscek’s teachings focused on millenarianist predictions of a significant political and economic collapse before the year 2000.
However, a 1978 New York Times report suggested that the real leadership might have consisted of Margaret L. Reinauer, Dianne Deming Desiderio, Mary O’Rourke, and Lark Bergwin. This group described themselves as a “capitalistic commune” aiming to make its members “healthy, wealthy, and wise.” They operated out of the former Saltz Hotel in Mount Freedom, Randolph Township, which they acquired in 1978 for $600,000. At that time, the organization claimed to have assets worth $6 million and owned multiple properties and businesses, including a security guard service and companies in real estate, investment, and construction.
Ideologically, the Circle of Friends drew upon Gnostic Christian and Anthroposophical teachings. Jurscek’s lectures often involved discussions on the nearing end times and a special knowledge that purportedly only the “knowers” or surviving Gnostic elite would possess after the apocalypse. This blend of spiritual and racial theories was aimed at seducing members into believing they would be among the survivors of the coming end times, drawing upon various spiritual teachings including those of Hal Lindsey and Hindu concepts about the Kali Yuga.
Members at the lower echelons were primarily employed as security officers, often working double shifts. Their salaries were sent directly to the group’s post office box. They were encouraged to enroll in colleges, obtain education loans, and then defer payment. This strategy was part of broader fraudulent activities that eventually led to charges against the group, including a student loan scam that involved members working for two different private security firms simultaneously and using sex as a means to prevent supervisors from discovering the fraud.
In 1988, Jurscek and O’Rourke were tried and convicted of conspiracy and fraud related to the student loan defaults, facing up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $200,000 each. By September 1991, Jurscek was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
Deprogrammer activities against the Circle of Friends began in 1978, led by Galen Kelly, who offered “voluntary interventions” to members. Despite initial setbacks, including a controversial kidnapping charge against Kelly that led to a prison sentence and later an overturned conviction, the efforts to combat the Circle’s influence highlighted the complex and often legally entangled fight against cult activities.
